TeenAdders cautiously optimistic about future

TeenAdders, the Orewa agency for teenagers with attention deficit disorder (ADD), is cautiously optimistic about its future after a meeting with the Waitemata District Health Board.

Founder Sandy Bowmar said before the meeting that the agency would close unless it could secure health funding.

The board has told her it will give a definite answer by Thursday.

"I think there is funding in there for non-mental health work that could at least give us a bridge until we get into a process of a tender, which is what I would hope for," she said.

TeenAdders presented the health board with a 90-page submission, including letters from Health Minister Pete Hodgson, Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson and several mental health agencies.